Estratégia naval da Índia - perspectivas do poder naval: a relevância do emprego de porta-aviões na consecução da estratégia naval indiana

Abstract

A feature present both in the first as the last Indian dynasties, was the modest role of the military. The armed forces in India play a minor role in decision - making of State destiny conduction than any other major country in th e world. The Indian leaders were, in most cases, with attention focused on enemies to the north and their backs towards to the Indian Ocean. The Ocean is the third largest area of the world ocean, covering around 20% of the earth's surface. Major routes an d waterways cross its waters from east to west and vice versa, connecting the Middle East to the Far East. Various regional and extra - regional actors, not always with convergent interests, interact in this space. The region is the stage of terrorist activi ties and transnational crimes, mostly related to the non - state actors. India has a strategic location in this Ocean, 7,500 km of coastline, more than 200 ports, rich seashore, a well endowed exclusive economic zone (EEZ) with more than 2.1 million square k m and over 1200 islands are some of the Indian maritime assets that can be object of greed in times of tension. In the Indian view, the main considerations of security must address: the access of the world's most powerful states fleets to the Indian Ocean, the large Islamic population that inhabits the margins of the Ocean and the inland areas, the prosperous oil trade from Persian Gulf and the proliferation of both conventional military power as nuclear weapons among the countries of the region, the value of main choke points to the India maritime security. Such considerations take part in the equation that defines the Indian naval strategy. In this sense the work will examine the India naval strategy, pointing out the roles of Indian naval power and the re sulting main tasks, as well as the envisaged scenarios of naval power insertion. Finally, it will be shown the versatility, flexibility and the incisive employment of aircraft carrier and its relevance on the Indian naval strategy.